In Other News: MH17

A look at a current news item through the lens of different titles available on GVRL.

By Michelle Eickmeyer

This story is heart-breaking. Everything about the events in Ukraine since 17 July have not made logical or reasonable sense. A commercial airliner with 298 passengers flew, at an approved height, over a battle zone. Fighters in that area blew it out of the sky, believing only a military plane would fly there, with weapons provided by another nation. Then, for days, the same fighters laid a sordid claim to the wreckage, holding the victims and their family in some cruel, unthinkable, inhumane limbo — they held the bodies of victims; they rummaged through their belongings; they took photos. Finger pointing began immediately, and few solid answers have found their way to the surface. The black boxes have finally been turned over and international authorities have begun an increasingly difficult task of proving what happened. Based solely on facts and without pressure from any side.

And, under all of this, Malaysian Airlines has sadly suffered it’s second catastrophic incident and their second mention in this blog.

Ukraine and it’s rights as a nation independent of Russia are at the heart of the fighting in the region. Should it or shouldn’t it be a sovereign nation? What is the value and expense of revolution? Explore the definitions of and alternatives to these topics and others in this new title.

As access was limited to the crash site and debris fields by fighters, and a world of time zones held those interested in the events, social media held the first glimpses of action in Eastern Ukraine. We’ve seen this with other accidents, including the first shaky footage to beam out from the grounding of the Costa Concordia and that one, odd tweet indicating something seemed strange in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad early one morning in 2011. Despite Russian media control, news was getting out. Take a deeper look at the pros and cons of the “non-stop voice” of social media in this title.

Avoidance of flying, particularly after a brash of incidents, is not uncommon. But is it necessary? If knowing that flying is one of the safest ways to travel is not enough (see this article from Thursday’s Guardian for stats, etc.), perhaps some facts and information on the design and construction of planes can help. The joy and mystery of flight are explored in this new title, meant for the scientific and precise mind.

Russia has a storied history of regional divisions, uprisings and skirmishes. For nearly two decades, the most high-profile of those issues have been within Chechyna, in the southwest region. If the saying is true, and history does tend to repeat itself, there are bound to be lessons for today’s Russian/Ukrainian fighters in this new title.

Vladimir (Vladimirovich) Putin has served as either the Prime Minister or President of Russia since 1999. Get an overview of his rise to power in Russian politics in this title.

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About the Author

Michelle is an “anytime!” traveler and language enthusiast. She has degrees in talking from Central Michigan and Michigan State University. She is currently becoming a runner and used to play golf in high school.